ANACONDA – 1997
Technically, snakes are reptiles, not amphibians, but a giant snake movie belongs on this list. Anaconda was another great animal horror film featuring a host of big name actors: Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Ice Cube, and Owen Wilson all star in this movie about a documentary film crew that cruises the Amazon jungle and meets up with a creepy snake hunter (Voight), only to meet an untimely demise in the squeezing coils and jaws of a huge anaconda. This is also the first time that I can recall a black actor surviving to the end of a horror film – LL Cool J would also accomplish this great feat of social progression two years later in Deep Blue Sea.
THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS – 1996
If by some slim chance you ever happen to be in the African Savannah and are living in a tent, you might want to consider relocating. Widely considered to be a major bust as a movie, The Ghost and the Darkness was, by my opinion, a hugely successful animal-based horror film. The story is loosely based on a true story from 1898 where two lions played a game of one upping each other and managed to slaughter 130 people over the course of nine months. To me, director Stephen Hopkins captures the intensity that those people must have felt back then. It’s a scary thing to know that something bigger and stronger than you is hunting you down day and night and there is literally no place you can hide. Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas turn in good performances as the two guys charged with hunting down the feline killing machines.
ARACHNOPHOBIA – 1990
So you may never visit Africa and have no need to be afraid of lions, but there is one thing almost everyone has been afraid of at one point in their lives – Spiders! And no other movie has ever captured that phobia better than Frank Marshall’s Arachnophobia. Starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman, Arachnophobia reminded us why it isn’t safe to just stick your head or hand into dark recesses of a house or barn. Spiders are smaller than us, yes; we should be able to totally dominate them and squash them under foot. But let’s see how brave you are the next time a huge camel spider is crawling on your chest when you wake up. No sir, I don’t like spiders and just like Goodman’s exterminator, it is my job to rid the earth of each one I see.
MAN’S BEST FRIEND - 1993
So let’s just say you’re one of those folks who fights for the right of every animal to live – especially dogs (insert random Michael Vick joke here). Well, how about you go ahead and watch Man’s Best Friend and then tell me how quickly you change your mind! Lance Henriksen is a “mad” scientist that genetically alters a huge hulking dog to have the natural abilities of other animals, as well as an increased intellect. The dog escapes and finds shelter at the home of Ally Sheedy, a reporter and animal activist who doesn’t believe the dog is a killer – that is, until said dog begins hunting her down and killing everything in his path, including a shocked and surprised cat!
CUJO – 1983
Well, I can see how you wouldn’t be scared of a genetically altered canine – there’s really no way an animal of that type could exist… But wait, what about the movie that to this day is synonymous with “Bad Dog?” Of course I’m talking about Cujo, one of Stephen King’s classic horror novels turned film and a film I consider to be in the top three King screen adaptaions, behind Misery, and The Shining. Director Lewis Teague really captures the true feeling of betrayal, heartache and terror as the once loving, protective household pet is turned into a biting, killing animal by rabies. Eventually all turns out well and why no one bothers to just knock the dog out with a bat is beyond me (crazy animal lovers…), but it’s the horror of being confronted with a rabid Cujo that makes you feel helpless in face of a 100-plus-pound animal bearing down on you.
Continue reading about Cats, Birds and Bears (oh my)…
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